Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, Online ISSN 2278-8808, SJIF 2016 = 6.17, www.srjis.com UGC Approved Sr. No.49366, MAR–APR, 2018, VOL- 5/44 RELIGIOUS SOLIDARITY IN VANMAM Khagendra Sethi, Ph. D. Asst. Professor (II), Dept. of English, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, India, Odisha [email protected] The objective of this paper is to show the religious solidarity in Bama’s Vanmam. Her other novels expose the religious disharmony and conflict between the Dalits and the upper castes. In this novel, Bama finds the futility of internal conflicts among themselves and lays foundation of unity and integrity. The dalits understand that they are victimised on the ground of their disunity. They are disintegrated and segregated in the name of caste and religion. They realize that they cannot get rid of the brand of their caste even after their conversion. Religious fighting and intolerance lead them to nowhere. At last they get to know that religious solidarity is the panacea for their community growth and peaceful living. The text will be analysed in the context of Tamil society and Tamil Dalit Literature. Keywords: Dalit literature, religious solidarity, marginalization Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com The Dalit in Tamil Nadu are called as “Taazhhtappator or Odukkapattavar” previously, but Dalit is in more use. Due to Dravidian politics it comes to Tamil Nadu. Dalit literature has come to Tamil Nadu like other states or other languages such as Marathi, Kannad and so on. Due to Dravidian politics it comes to existence in Tamil Nadu till then it did not find its place in the domain of literature. The self-respect movement is an anti Brahminst movement founded in 1925 by E.V. Ramasamy Naicker in Tamil Nadu which sought for justice of depressed castes. Rettamalai Srinivasan is a Dalit activist and freedom fighter in Tamil Nadu and works for welfare of Dalits. He is an icon and very close to Mahatma Gandhi and one of the pioneers of Dalit movement in India. He was born in a poor Parayar family in Madras and brother-in-law of famous dalit activist Iyothee Thass. Srinivasan was the founder of Parayar Mahajan Sabha in 1891 and later it was converted to Adi –Dravida Mahajana Sabha. According to Thass, Dalits are originally Buddhists. There is no caste system in Buddhism, so he was fascinated by this religion and prompted to other dalits to accept Buddihism. The VKC liberation party (Viduthalai Ciruthaigai Katchi) is transferred from largest Dalit movement to recognised political organisation. Srinivasan, who is one of the pioneers of Copyright © 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Khagendra Sethi 10115 (Pg. 10114-10122) Tamil Dalit movements, had represented Paraiyar group in the Round Table Conference in London. In Indian literary milieu, the last decades of 20th century have witnessed the emergence of talented Dalit writers which explores the miseries and misfortune of their Dalit communities with utmost commitment for social change. Among the contemporary Dalit writers, Bama is a nun who has become a social activist and turned into a powerful voice for helpless lower caste Dalit people. Writing from margin, Bama‟s literary writing is a path breaking intervention in Tamil Dalit fiction. Bama who is a Dalit woman, Christian nun and a school teacher has written about her own experiences locating them within the context that circumscribe her personal and professional life. Her identity as a Dalit and her marginalized position in the society are shown in her writings. She is marginalized on basis of her caste, class, gender and religion and explores the multiple structures of oppression that operate in the lives of Dalits in caste based society. Dalit literary writing is a mode of activism that seeks the freedom of Dalits from the clutches of dominant ideology. She likes to foreground Dalit‟s resistance to oppression rather than merely record their victimization on account of their caste. A dalit is kept away from formal education due to the socio-economical and ideological paradigm. Things have been changed over the ages for dalits in Indian social milieu. In modern India, social prejudice and economic deprivation largely account for the gross negligence of the educational opportunities for Dalits. Bama belongs to the class of first generation learners in her community and has found a place in academic circle by virtue of being a school teacher and more significantly as a writer. She lays great emphasis on education as means of social empowerment. As an activist and writer she forges close ideological affinity with feminist thought. Women and Dalit both are oppressed on account of their birth. She repeatedly points out in her writings that Dalits will help themselves and assert their difference from the dominant castes as a strategy of self- affirmation. She also consciously writes about the Dalits in the Dalit‟s own vocabulary refusing to follow traditional notion of form, style, aesthetic paradigm or acceptable forms of diction and grammar. Bama aggressively affirms her Dalit identity and refuses to be accommodated into mainstream literary circles. Her works adopt a more militant that often invade literary discourse. In „Karukku‟, Bama focuses the vulnerable condition of Dalit people and how they are victims of circumstances due to their poor economic background. They remain landless agricultural labourers who are politically powerless. She focuses another problem that is untouchability in Christianity. She painfully notes that their rich Copyright © 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Khagendra Sethi 10116 (Pg. 10114-10122) culture is robbed and they are left with no culture. She appears to be concerned about the survival of Dalit community. She focuses on the work that is routinely done by dalit women both at home and outside. She explores the marginalization of Dalits in the hands of church and authorities of church. In Sangati, Bama focuses the triple marginalization of Dalit women by the society on the basis of gender, class and caste. Her fictional landscape is filled with violence on dalit women, wife beating, sexual harassment, loneliness, women abandoned by their husbands and denial of their freedom at home and ultimately the succumbing of the entire dalit community to the economic exploitation of upper caste people. The Dalit Cultural festival was organized in Pondicherry and Neyveli in1992 and mobilized the Dalit organizations and activists and provided a common platform for them. According to the model of the Black Cultural Festival of US, the Dalit Cultural Festival was modelled. In this programme there was a discussion about the function of caste, panchami land, role of state machinery and role of separate electorate were discussed here by the different Dalit groups. The books on dalits were released there. There was a display of art which showed the artistry related to caste oppression. The government‟s publication of writings of Ambedkar played a key role in shaping Dalit politics. The grassroot level Tamil journal „Little Magazine Culture‟ has played a key role in this field. Dalit Studies become new discipline in academic sphere. Besides such developments in intellectual cultural spheres, there is political mobilization for Dalits under the guidance of Tirumaavalavan and Dr. Krishnasamy. And between these processes, Vidudhalai Ciruthaikkal has emerged as political party and it can challenge the Dravidian parties by re-establishing the continuity of the anti-caste intellectual tradition of Iyothee Thass, Rettaimalai Srinivasan, M.C. Rajah and other dalit intellectuals. During this period Bama has emerged as Dalit women writer at the international level. In Indian context the literature is categorized in two groups. One is the main stream literature and the other one is marginal. The main stream literature is based on „Varnas‟ and „Varnashramas‟. The story of aristocratic society and its glorification is depicted in this sort of literature. On the other hand the story of the lower caste has not found a place and has never been accepted as the subject of art. The picture of suffering of huge number of people of our nation was kept aside by the so called artists of life for centuries. It is believed that they serve the purpose of social ethnics, morals, divinity and so on and so forth. Art never discriminates on the basis of caste, gender and so on. Bama uses simple, demotic and colloquial language in VANMAM. Here in Bama‟s writings there is not the description of a Copyright © 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Khagendra Sethi 10117 (Pg. 10114-10122) community but also a search for identity and at same time, a search for a change of that identity. So Bama‟s writing allows non-Dalit readers to break from a traditional world view concerning Dalits and see them as fellow human beings with their own identity. The language of VANMAM is totally different from SANGATI and KARUKKU. It is free of expletives and strong forms of address. Here the language shows a strong sense of community. The entire village addresses elderly women as 'patti' and old men as 'thatha'. She shows her women characters to be straight forward, independent and courageous. In VANMAM, there is not much use of abusive language comparing to other novels of Bama. VANMAM does not carry her emotions to a very large extent. It is a stark portrayal of Intra-Dalit rivalry. It also shows the religious solidarity in the end of the novel. It is a serious work because it deals with intercaste violence. Even though there is a fair amount of light-hearted talk among people, it is to do with male members of the community talking and making fun with each other.